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Friday, July 29, 2011

Happy Birthday Bena; Ballet In The Park; Osteopath visit

Today is my sister Bena's birthday. I won't say how old she is because apparently women don't like to tell their age but she is almost 18 months younger than I am. I think I mentioned before that when we were little girls, Dad used to give her a present on my birthday when he gave me my birthday gift. It used to annoy me because I wanted the day to be mine entirely. Of course what I didn't think about or mind was that he did the same for me on her birthday which I didn't mind one bit. I think we did that until I left Guyana in 1970.

These days with us living so far away from each other, it's a present just to spend time together. She is coming to Winnipeg on Saturday for a week so we should be able to spend some time doing whatever... plus we'll be going on a family vacation in November.

That'll be a special family vacation. Mom is treating her four children to a one week Hawaiian cruise in November. What makes this even more eventful is that this is the first time that all four of us siblings will be vacationing together. It will be the four of us and Mom - no spouses or children - just us together for a whole week. We fly to Honolulu and then do the one week cruise through the Hawaiian islands. I am not sure what to expect but I think we all need this time together to grieve, heal and re-connect with each other. And I think that we'll be fortunate to have some good memories of time spent together.

Ballet in the Park

Tonight we are going to the Lyric Theatre's Ballet in The Park at Assiniboine Park (dinner at an Italian restaurant first). The weather is supposed to be glorious but I'm going to take a blanket anyway. Last time I went to the big band concert, it got cool after the sun went down. I'm not sure what's going to be playing but in any event, it'll be a nice end to my week and a good way to start the long weekend.

Osetopath visit

Some of you who have been following my blog will know that I have some issues with my foot for the last 6 months that don't appear to be getting resolved. It's frustrating me because I love to walk and the injuries have been hampering me from doing any serious walking. I've gone for massage therapy, chiropractic care (two different chiros), athletic therapy, a podiatrist and my own doctor. I've been told to try a boot cast, anti-inflammatory meds (which I have stopped after 4 weeks of no success) and an ankle brace. None of it is working so if you have ever had plantar fasciitis, tenosynovitis, posterior tibial tendonitis, to tarsal tunnel syndrome ( all of which I now have), you'll understand the amount of pain in my foot - all the time.

So yesterday I decided to try an osteopathic doctor who is also a naturopath. He is from Trinidad and has studied in several different areas. When I told him what I was dealing with, he asked if I was a medical person. I said I had no medical background whatsoever but I have learned to pay attention to medical jargon (lesson from spending so much time with Dad's illness) and I use my research skills to help me understand what they are talking about, and of course to take responsibility for managing my own health rather than relying entirely on my health care professionals - especially if you are seeing multiple people. So his suggestion was to get a new set of orthotics (which I have been asking for for several months) and if that does not resolve the problems entirely, then he'll do some additional treatments with moxa.

Of course never having heard of that before, I did some research. It's some kind of Chinese medicine which is supposed to help with pain and inflammation. Worth a try since nothing else seems to be working. He also suggested electro-acupuncture which I have had before with no success. I'm not sure about the acupuncture but I will be getting new orthotics next week and I am very hopeful that my foot issues are resolved (which has also been adversely affecting my back).

I DO NOT want to go back to getting severe back pain (which I have been dealing with for more than 30 years) so that's why I took up walking. For the last few months, I've been doing yoga and now aqua-exercises. Those deem to help and I still do about 30-40 minutes of walking each day but not the same distance and speed as I do for marathon training.

Does all this sound like I'm complaining? I'm not. I'm just glad to be getting my orthotics and looking forward to getting back into my long walks. Writing about long walks, I hope you take some time this long weekend to do some of that - where ever it is. Mine will be in the Assiniboine Park tonight.

1 comment:

four sisters and mom on Hawaiian cruise makes a great headline stay tune for the details coming in November.....Looking forward for your leg of vacation that will bring you to Orlando,can you come in September and December?. Since you can't say how old is your sister how about saying yours.I can imagine what you feeling are on your feet because my wife is having that problem too with the pain moving to her chest which makes her very uncomfortable.Did went to the park,did a one mile walk and peddle a boat in the lake it was fun while benefiting from the exercise.This is the month of fasting [ramadhan]starting today monday so i will be fasting along with my family.